TOKYO (Reuters) - Canon Inc. (7751.T: Quote, NEWS , Research) is likely to post a 19 percent rise in half-year profit boosted by strong demand for colour copiers and digital cameras, just topping its company forecast, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday.
Also helped by a weaker yen against the euro, Canon is set to post 401 billion yen ($3.2 billion) in operating profit for the six months ending in June, the paper said.
That would be 2.2 percent higher than the company's estimate and just less than half of the Reuters consensus full-year estimate of 807 billion yen, based on forecasts from 19 analysts.
In the past, however, Canon's second-half earnings have tended to be slightly larger than its first-half earnings.
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Canon declined to comment on the report. It will publish its first half numbers in late July.
Sales are likely to climb 11 percent to around 2.17 trillion yen, some 10 billion yen more than forecast, the paper added.
The paper also said first-half net profit was set to climb 19 percent to 255 billion yen and sales would rise 11 percent to 2.17 trillion yen, some 10 billion more than forecast.
Canon's shares were up 0.6 percent at 7,370 yen by the midday break of trade, outperforming the benchmark Nikkei share average's 0.03 percent fall.
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